Mall Ninja or prepared Boy Scout??

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wutitiz

Joined
Mar 5, 2008
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I enjoy laughing at the Dark Ops ads as much as the next guy. However, there comes a point for me when the 'mall ninja' label gets annoying. I carry a folder nearly all waking hours, and yes, at least in the far reaches of my mind I imagine that I could use it for SD if I had to. I don't consider that being a 'mall ninja,' I consider it being prepared, like a Boy Scout.

I have a CCW permit and usually carry, but there are times that I can't. My folder is mostly used at work to cut cardboard, shrink wrap, etc. and to clip articles from the papers. While I doubt that I will ever have to use it for SD, it is not unheard of. It actually happened to me many years ago, when I came home one afternoon and surprised a burglar. At the time I lived in Illinois, where there are no CCW's, and I did not even own a gun. Pepper spray was not yet invented. But a knife sufficed that day.

I EDC a folder that definitely would fall into the 'tactical' (or as I prefer, sport-utility) category, yes, complete with DLC-ed black blade. I also pack a small William Henry for sheeple purposes. And I always have a Surefire flashlight plus a photon on my key ring. They laugh at me, but when the power goes out, I'm the first person they yell for.

Am I a mall ninja, or just following the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.
 
You will find that the label "mall ninja" has ceased to mean "people who are unconnected to reality and who believe they are black-bag spec-ops secret-squirrel high-speed-low-drag operators" and has since come to mean, "Anybody who likes, prefers, carries, or otherwise supports any product, or who expresses any opinion, with which I disagree." It's a dumb term that has stopped being funny and has started becoming annoying simply because so many people disengage their brains and start throwing it around for no reason other than that they want to make fun of somebody.

Don't every apologize for thinking ahead or for being prepared. The grasshoppers snorting and giggling and calling you a "mall ninja" would the first people begging for your help when you had something they needed that they did not possess.
 
Sharp Phil said:
You will find that the label "mall ninja" has ceased to mean "people who are unconnected to reality and who believe they are black-bag spec-ops secret-squirrel high-speed-low-drag operators" and has since come to mean, "Anybody who likes, prefers, carries, or otherwise supports any product, or who expresses any opinion, with which I disagree." It's a dumb term that has stopped being funny and has started becoming annoying simply because so many people disengage their brains and start throwing it around for no reason other than that they want to make fun of somebody.

Don't every apologize for thinking ahead or for being prepared. The grasshoppers snorting and giggling and calling you a "mall ninja" would the first people begging for your help when you had something they needed that they did not possess.
Click to expand...

100% agree! I get ridiculed all the time for carrying several knives, a multi-tool, and a small flashlight. But like Phil said, as soon as they need any one of those things they're yelling my name.

Personally I think a lot of times it's nothing more than the simple fact that most people want to think that their cozy little world will never change. All hell will never break loose, things will be rainbows and sunshine all the time. Society has taught the masses that they don't have to even think about fending for themselves, there will aways be someone else to take care of them. And anyone that desires to be prepared and self-sufficient is nothing more than a knife wielding nut who fantasizes all the time about killing people. Just ignore them, their ignorance will be their undoing one day.....
 
A "mall ninja" is someone who owns all sorts of special forces ultra squad "tactical" stuff they dont need and wont use.

A knife and a light is just normal and probably what most of us here carry, I know i do :thumbup:
 
You just heard from the most famous and feared, Mall Ninja on BF, Haze! :O
 
My Father was a wise man and one tough son of a bitch. He told many things that I still use to this day in my line of work as a Deputy Sheriff.

First "You can not polish a Turd".

Second and most important "It is better to have and not need then need and not have".

Having those items handy does not classify you as a Mall Ninja.

These are some examples of a Mall Ninja

Building a hidden compartment in the trunk of your Nissan Stanza for the G36C you don’t own because, you can’t convince your mother the threat of 10 MS-13 gang members robbing the Bingo hall she frequents is real.

Or your neighborhood watch needs a rapid response team equipped with a Barrett 50 Cal. and an ultra light which is stored in your garage.
 
I think you're fine. As is usually the case, these things boil down to degree. How many, how big, how extreme, etc. It's not an objective standard.
 
I call that being prepared. I myself AM a Boy Scout, and I carry a SureFire E2L and a Spyderco Military with a black-coated blade.

At school, I still carry the light. People give me hell all the time, but when the power went out last January after a huge icestorm (we got sent home early) I was the first one they found.

Don't apologize for being prepared and ready to go. That's not something in the taboo of the Mall Ninja.
 
If you have Nunchaku, you may be a ninja...but I doubt it... if you carry them in your car, you are a Mallninja. If you wear those split toed shoes anywhere but on secret covert Ninja Missions, you are a mallninja! If you own any Shuriken and practice killing bad guys in the morror, you are a Mallninja. Remember dudes, anyone can piss on the floor, but Chuck Norris can sh!t on the ceiling!
 
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wutitiz, I think your EDCs are cool and typical around here. Preared? I would call you a gearhead. Welcome to the club... we have bumper stickers! I EDC a knife every day on my person, but the light stays in my Timbuk2 messenger bag unless I'm going out at night. If I have two knives on me, it is usually a large folder and a SAK or Leatherman... but those are usually in the bag as well.. To each his own.. I hate having stuff in my pockets, and many times I don't have pockets. Normal carry for me would be a knife, phone, Debit Card and ID. If you don;t mind carrying a bunch of stuff on your person, more power to ya!
 
ive been called a mall ninja before because i carry a black coated leek, thing is at the time i got it it was the only one they had in the shop, i in all honesty prefer a nice uncoated finish and i usually like my EDC to look as friendly as possible but i love that leek,(soon to be replaced by a benchmade griptillian or spyderco police)
 
I don't think that's being a mall ninja at all, being prepared is a whole different approach. I'm prepared for just about anything with my EDC, I carry a multi tool (leatherman surge now) my knife for the day (sebenza 21) and my texas match (magnesium rod). Now I probably won't ever use the texas match on my day to day, but it is nice knowing that I can make a fire whenever I feel like it.

Mall Ninja just seems to be a person who carries around a knife with a horrible design and probably terrible name, acts as if the world is out to get them, has seen EVERY martial arts movie known to man and believes they can actually perform those moves without cables :rolleyes:, and patrols malls by night in disguise as a ninja :D

Looks like you are clear from that title, be prepared, J.
 
Who's calling you a mall-ninja?



Some of what you are saying certainly is m-ninja-esque....even if you don't intend it.


You speak of being "the first person they yell for", that others laugh at you....you mention an event that "actually happened to me many years ago"...rather than just tell us the facts/details.

Concluding that "a knife sufficed that day"...but not telling us how.




I'm not going to accuse you of being one...but maybe your mindset and verbage is misleading others into treating you like one.


Yes, I am an Eagle Scout and I definitely live by the "Be Prepared" motto the best I can.

But that doesn't "mall-ninja-proof" me....I got some tactical gear the other day and "over accessorized"...it weighed a ton and slowed me down. I had lost track of the idea of simplicity.

If that's a fear of yours....then simplify.

If you just want people to justify your being prepared....ain't gonna happen. Just live prepared and be ready. When it's over, you keep on living.



The Mall-Ninja does not know how to react realistically in a crisis situation...many of us have never been truly battle-tested and have to rely on books, others, classes, common sense to get out of tight spots....but the M-N thinks they are The Most Prepared person out there..."the gear justifies my actions".

A Boy Scout is always prepared, but understands that he is not The Most Prepared person out there.



Hope you see/understand the spirit of what I'm saying.


Dan
 
If you ask, you're probably not a mall ninja. Go to EDC forums and see what they're carrying.
 
I would be what I view upon as a boyscout. I try to be prepared for most things I come across daily, and some things bordering paranoia, perhaps.

I carry a knife, at all times, no exceptions. The light has found itself a cozy home on my person as well, to the point where I'm not comfortable without it.
So you're not alone, and if I am a mall-ninja, so be it. If being a little more prepared than your average person earns me that title, than I wholeheartedly embrace it, and I would urge my brothers in blade to do the same.:)

As Daniel asked I would too like to know who is calling you a mall-ninja, because it all comes down to perception.
The term itself has changed a bit over time as well. The way I see it is that it's more a mentality than a choice of what you bear on your person. I for example am no stranger to "tactical" or "Mall-ninja" knives(Using the term loosely here), but that doesn't matter one bit. You have a tool in your hand you need to be comfortable with. If that means you have a blackcoated leek, as someone mentioned, then so be it. If you want to walk around with a flashlight, that's your choice (A smart one, if I may say so.). If you feel the need to carry a gun on you whereever law permits and you feel it's necesary, then more power to you.
To me the moment it borders over into the domain of Mall-ninja-esque practices is when you take with you items that realistically have no practical use. But again that all depends on your point of view. A firesteel wouldn't be overkill in my eyes, while a kevlar suit would.

What I'm trying to show here is that it doesn't matter as long as you are comfortable with it. Don't listen to anyone else on this matter. If they are comfortable ripping open boxes with keys, or feeling their way through a dark building after an power-outage, or even getting robbed for that matter, then let them. You obviously don't. Just use common sense, 'tis all.

For what it's worth...
Jodi.
 
If you carry more then 1 knife and more then one flashlight for your edc, I think that would be leaning toward mall ninja. (a small photon and sak on the keychain doesnt count)
But carry what you want and screw what other people think.
 
A VERY good example of the king of the mall ninja's is Lyn Thompson of Cold Steel. Just go to their web page and see all of the "warrior this... and warrior that...." He even swings a knife like a mall ninja :rolleyes:

http://www.coldsteel.com/
 
I didnt understand what a mallninja was. My definaition was someone who was over enthusiastic over a ridiculous looking knife.
 
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